17 October 2007

What is it?"Virtual Earth provides the power behind Live Search Maps, an online mapping service that enables users to search, discover, explore, plan, and share information about specific locations. By using traditional road maps, labeled aerial photo views, low-angle high-resolution aerial photos, and proximity searching capabilities, Virtual Earth provides unique opportunities for developers to incorporate both location and local search features into their Web applications."

(Finally the video uploads! - from Space to the Grand Canyon)This is a Powerful 3D Engine - You can use it like 'Google Earth' but this is in a web browser (Firefox here with the 3D plugin already installed)

Whats is New? (lots)

Version 6.0 of the map control includes improvements in the following areas:

Enhanced accuracy

Additional functionality

Enhanced performance (it is a lot smoother

Enhanced Geocoding. Integrates multiple geocoders and datasets.

Rooftop Geocoding. Rooftop locations are the most precise geocoding.

Consistent Pushpin Accuracy. When switching between aerial and Birdseye views.

Multi-point Routing. A new method takes multiple points for a route

Switching from Miles/Kilometers available

Bulk Addition of Shapes. A new method to add multiple pushpins in one call.

Improved Shape Control. You can now specify how a shape object appears relative to other shapes or tile objects, providing greater control in viewing data and objects.

MapCruncher (Beta). MapCruncher Beta for Microsoft Virtual Earth makes it easy to publish maps overlaid in an application using the Virtual Earth map control. See the MapCruncher Web page for further information.

3D Altitude Settings. Altitudes for three-dimensional objects can now be specified in meters.

There have been significant speed and accuracy improvements for pushpins and shapes in high numbers. Performance enhancements also include faster map panning.

MapCruncher Betafor Microsoft Virtual Earth makes it easy to publish maps overlaid in an application using the Virtual Earth map control. Once you are familiar with the tool, it will take you about ten minutes to generate a new tile layer. Just find 5 to 10 corresponding landmarks on your map and on the Virtual Earth map view, and MapCruncher will register your map to the global coordinate system, warp it to fit a Mercator projection, and generate a set of image tiles that can be seamlessly layered on top of Virtual Earth map control's standard road, hybrid, or aerial imagery. It even makes a sample HTML page for reference. MapCruncher accepts a variety of vector formats (PDF, WMF, EMF) and raster formats (JPG, PNG, TIFF, GIF, BMP). Where to get more information?Start here http://dev.live.com/virtualearth/sdk/ test the functions out.http://blogs.msdn.com/virtualearth/

1 Comments:

any idea how to find out a list of which towns have buildings made? So far i've only found Brighton and Bristol - both of which appear to be nearly entirely modelled... thought they were starting with the "b"s but birmingham hasn't been done.. :)